Starting a thread for the at this point up and coming Blizzard MOBA - Heroes of the Storm

Currently in Technical Alpha, this is a place we can discuss Heroes, strats for the maps, ask questions for those in the alpha/betaand any other random trolling ...i mean discussion (cause we NEVER troll on MTadin...right guys?...uh..guys? *crickets*)

I am currently in the tech alpha, if there is a hero you are interested in, i would be happy to try it out when i can, but please note i am a MOBA noob, so if you actually know wtf you are doing, your experience may vary sli..massively

Any one else in the alpha?

Brekkie:Tanks are like shitty DPS. And healers are like REALLY distracted DPSAmirya:Why yes, your penis is longer than his because you hit 30k dps in the first 10 seconds. But guess what? That raid boss has a dick bigger than your ego. Flex:I don't make mistakes. I execute carefully planned strategic group wipes.Levie:(in /g) It's weird, I have a collar and I dont know where I got it from, Worgen are kinky!Levie:Drunk Lev goes and does what he pleases just to annoy sober Lev.Sagara:You see, you need to *spread* the bun before you insert the hot dog.

I'm not in the alpha but the coverage on the game I have seen so far (various streamers, mostly Kripp) leaves me more than a little skeptical. I see nothing truly new or innovative and would argue that mechanically and with regard to depth are dumbed down in comparison to other MOBAs. I understand that it's early alpha and all but the graphics also look extremely dated and the gameplay unresponsive.

Again, I understand that this game is in early Alpha. But as a veteran MOBA player, including early stages of DOTA, LoL and DOTA2 both since since closed beta as well as a long time Blizzard Fanyboy (RoS will be the first PC title I didn't purchase at or before launch), I can say that I'm really not interested at the moment... Early stages of alpha so there's still hope.

However I'm going to err on the skeptical side. In the past 2 or so years I have cancelled a long time(mid BC)WOW sub, Played Diablo 3 for 3 months and quickly dismissed Hearthstone.

Diablo 3... This was supposed to be the successor to Diablo 2, a game that I played for nearly 3 years as a teen. I have had an infinitely better experience playing Path of Exile and still play PoE off and on after 2 years, some of that time including closed/open beta i.e. not a polished version. From my perspective, an "indie" game from a small company from NEW ZEALAND is superior to a Blizzard game in every conceivable aspect (except for aesthetics)...

As for HS I was extremely disappointed, I Played MTG for several years including some amateur level competitive play (PTQs, GPQs) but nothing too crazy and enjoy games of all kinds that contain complex mechanics, games where understanding and utilizing those mechanics affords a significant advantage over not. You'll find none of that, relatively speaking, in HS and can even nap during your opponent's turns... enjoy!

Sorry... rant over, train back on track...

TLDR: Looks lame so far and there is the possibility of me being a little jaded.

if you are a hardcore player of other MOBAs, this probably wont be the game for youif you are like me and cant get into a moba without wanting to put your fist through your monitor within 2 hours...this is the gamemuch less stressful not having to worry about last hitting, item builds, personal levels

its just like hearthstone was MTG for the masses, this is the MOBA for the massesdumbed down compared to a lot of other games in teh genre, but fun and easy...ier to play

as for D3, i only played in the beta, my rig didnt run it that well, so i never got the actual game, plus the whole AH thing turned me offbut from what i am hearing from guildies who are hardcore ARPG players, the 2.0 changes are nice and brings D3 closer to what it should be as a D2 sequel..though PoE is fun as hell too!

so..tl:dr - its a blizzard product..simple, but fun. if you already play other games in the genre, you prob wont like it, but if you dont currently and like this style of game, this could be a good starting point

Brekkie:Tanks are like shitty DPS. And healers are like REALLY distracted DPSAmirya:Why yes, your penis is longer than his because you hit 30k dps in the first 10 seconds. But guess what? That raid boss has a dick bigger than your ego. Flex:I don't make mistakes. I execute carefully planned strategic group wipes.Levie:(in /g) It's weird, I have a collar and I dont know where I got it from, Worgen are kinky!Levie:Drunk Lev goes and does what he pleases just to annoy sober Lev.Sagara:You see, you need to *spread* the bun before you insert the hot dog.

Not to off-track this thread too far, but the fundamental problem with Diablo III was the AH, and that's now gone. Back are the days of pecking at the piano keys hoping for corn rather than just buying the best gear. It'll take 3 years to become as well-equipped as you could in 3 months with the AH, so it should have some longevity now.

bldavis wrote:if you are like me and cant get into a moba without wanting to put your fist through your monitor within 2 hours...this is the game

ARAMs went a hell of a long way for me in combatting the "fist through monitor" desires... it's just about the only format I play (other than vs AI, when I just feel like kicking some AI ass.)

I've tried DOTA 2 and Infinite Crisis... neither holds the appeal that LoL does (I don't like the maps in IC, otherwise I might feel differently.)

A big part of it is the fact that I'm actually accustomed to what the items do and which chars want which stats. Sadly, that alone makes moving to another MOBA next to impossible.

bldavis wrote:much less stressful not having to worry about last hitting, item builds, personal levels

What do you mean? Have they removed minions/items/levels? What exactly IS in this game? Is it more about player skill / champ rock/paper/scissors as opposed to "I got lucky in the early levels so can now faceroll you the rest of the game"?

there are minions and levelsbut no items..the item bonus effects are baked into talents you choose as you levelso no last gold to worry about, thus no need to worry about last hitting for said gold

the levels are team levels, and as long as someone is in a lane, your entire team gets XP from that lane's minionsyou also get XP from clearing/capping merc (aka jungle) campsso yes, there is no i got lucky in the early game, ergo i am able to snowball and be unkillable by level 7 very back and forth, esp on some maps (pirate one and the haunted mines one come to mind) it mostly depends on your team to play the objectives well. a good push with a super powered golem, or following up a pirate ship barrage, or with the other side objectives...can really swing a game in your favor, or against you if it is the other team

sadly there is no ARAM as of yet

any other questions out there? esp about the heroes?

Brekkie:Tanks are like shitty DPS. And healers are like REALLY distracted DPSAmirya:Why yes, your penis is longer than his because you hit 30k dps in the first 10 seconds. But guess what? That raid boss has a dick bigger than your ego. Flex:I don't make mistakes. I execute carefully planned strategic group wipes.Levie:(in /g) It's weird, I have a collar and I dont know where I got it from, Worgen are kinky!Levie:Drunk Lev goes and does what he pleases just to annoy sober Lev.Sagara:You see, you need to *spread* the bun before you insert the hot dog.

One nice thing that I didn't mention in the post is that there are no more individual kills, but everyone who participated in a kill gets a "takedown"; the game never tells you who got the last hit. If you kill three people, the announcer will still say that a "Triple Kill" occurred, but because no one cares who got the last hit, everyone on the team is happy about it (evidenced by people saying things like "awesome job guys!" in chat, which I rarely see in other games), and you never hear anyone complaining about how "noob support take my kill, i afk now".

Would probably solve a lot of things yes. And would solve the damn adc taking my penta away.

theckhd wrote:Fuck no, we've seen what you do to guilds. Just imagine what you could do to an entire country. Just visiting the US might be enough to make the southern states try to secede again.

halabar wrote:Noo.. you don't realize the problem. Worldie was to negative guild breaking energy like Bolvar is to the Scourge. If Worldie is removed, than someone must pick up that mantle, otherwise that negative guild breaking energy will run rampant, destroying all the servers.

Got into the alpha a few days back and just wanted to add my impressions, as a sometimes DotA, longtime LoL player I'm really finding HotS a breath of fresh air. The whole no items, no gold, shared levels helps (imao) to remove a lot of sources of stress from the game and return the focus to the actual gameplay instead which is very appealing.

There's a brief 'this is how you play' intro to get people who are brand new into things, it's quickly done for those who know what they're doing. It also 'gates' your access you battle types initially, your account gets exp for wins much like LoL and access to co-op vs AI and 5 vs 5 is linked to your first few levels. For experts you'll get enough exp in a match or two to unlock all modes of play, for newer players it might take another match or two beyond that, which is great, it means that you actually get to incrementally experience the game and learn it a bit before being thrown in the deep end. As an experienced player it's also good imao as it means you know that the other players have at least a basic understanding of the game and have had a chance to practice using heroes and some of their skills.

Overall, it's a hell of a lot of fun even in alpha and I suspect i'll switch from LoL to HotS when it's out given that it'll likely mean being able to play with a lot more of my friends who don't really 'get' LoL or DotA but will probably find this far more accessible (plus, just personally, I'm a fan of more action, less shopping).

"Definition: Love is making a connection with another person against long odds." "Clarification: Love is making a shot to the knees of a target 300 kilometers away using an Aratech sniper rifle with a tri-light scope."-HK-47WoW Millionaire

Zagara is in (looks fun), and tons of balance changes. Kerrigan and Li Li got nerfed which was badly needed.

I'm a complete newbie at MOBAs - never played any before at all. This has been pretty fun so far. Have Tyrande, Nazeebo, and ETC. Play Raynor a lot for dailies too.

... the fact that more potential voters are swayed by a few trivial comments 10 years ago than a candidate literally collapsing is not a good sign and tends to indicate that even if Trump wins, it won't matter.

No electorate that stupid is going to survive long, one way or another.

I do understand that's still Alpha, but I dont know how blizzard can think that a champion that is permanently invisible, not targettable until hit by a aoe or attacks and can 1shot squishys is balanced.

But then, that's rogues in wow since several years so I shouldn't be surprised

theckhd wrote:Fuck no, we've seen what you do to guilds. Just imagine what you could do to an entire country. Just visiting the US might be enough to make the southern states try to secede again.

halabar wrote:Noo.. you don't realize the problem. Worldie was to negative guild breaking energy like Bolvar is to the Scourge. If Worldie is removed, than someone must pick up that mantle, otherwise that negative guild breaking energy will run rampant, destroying all the servers.

Yeah, Nova's probably a touch overtuned at the moment - she wasn't very good before and suddenly is again.

You can watch for the cloak-shimmer and knock her out of cloak with any kind of AoE or skillshot. The other thing you can do is make sure someone is taking vision talent if she's on the other team and/or make sure you stick together.

... the fact that more potential voters are swayed by a few trivial comments 10 years ago than a candidate literally collapsing is not a good sign and tends to indicate that even if Trump wins, it won't matter.

No electorate that stupid is going to survive long, one way or another.

She's good atm, probably a bit too good but not so OP as to hugely unbalance matches in my experience with her (there's a few recloakers who are all good in an experienced players hands). There tends to be quite a bit of AoE going off in a lot of fights that will knock her out as she tries to set up a gank and she is *squishy*. Had several matches earlier where we fought one and our Zeratul or Stitches routinely destroyed her, once you know she's going to be around you can be ready and it's certainly possible to deal with her, that said, in a random 5v5 I've seen her get very good damage and kills consistently so she probably needs retuning somewhere, possibly less burst or longer recloaks (something I think would be good in general, it's too easy for cloakers to escape atm I feel).

"Definition: Love is making a connection with another person against long odds." "Clarification: Love is making a shot to the knees of a target 300 kilometers away using an Aratech sniper rifle with a tri-light scope."-HK-47WoW Millionaire

Something I don't understand is... how does Blizzard want to "tune/balance" the game if the large majority of the players in the alpha have absolutely 0 clue in Moba mechanics and no in game ranked system to split skill based? Many if not most of the games I've played have had one of the teams with just 0 teamwork and/or completely ignoring map mechanics which gets literally shit on by the other team with no retaliation. There's hardly any balance testing going if most games end up with a team with 50 kills and the other with 0.

More random balance issue in my opinion: they really have exagerated with fighter archetype. Every single melee fighter has super strong heals and gap closers, which basically means they dominate anything else if they have a minimum amount of understanding... Feels to me they are doing the same error LoL has (and admitted they have) done with the spam of mobility: gap closers are useless if every single champion has them.

I know it's still early alpha but............. >_____<

theckhd wrote:Fuck no, we've seen what you do to guilds. Just imagine what you could do to an entire country. Just visiting the US might be enough to make the southern states try to secede again.

halabar wrote:Noo.. you don't realize the problem. Worldie was to negative guild breaking energy like Bolvar is to the Scourge. If Worldie is removed, than someone must pick up that mantle, otherwise that negative guild breaking energy will run rampant, destroying all the servers.

I'm gifting a cookie to anyone who tells me how to do emotes in the game!

theckhd wrote:Fuck no, we've seen what you do to guilds. Just imagine what you could do to an entire country. Just visiting the US might be enough to make the southern states try to secede again.

halabar wrote:Noo.. you don't realize the problem. Worldie was to negative guild breaking energy like Bolvar is to the Scourge. If Worldie is removed, than someone must pick up that mantle, otherwise that negative guild breaking energy will run rampant, destroying all the servers.

i know /dance works at least it did a couple months ago last time i played lol

Brekkie:Tanks are like shitty DPS. And healers are like REALLY distracted DPSAmirya:Why yes, your penis is longer than his because you hit 30k dps in the first 10 seconds. But guess what? That raid boss has a dick bigger than your ego. Flex:I don't make mistakes. I execute carefully planned strategic group wipes.Levie:(in /g) It's weird, I have a collar and I dont know where I got it from, Worgen are kinky!Levie:Drunk Lev goes and does what he pleases just to annoy sober Lev.Sagara:You see, you need to *spread* the bun before you insert the hot dog.

Am I the only one who thinks that selling Beta invites for money on a game that's supposed to be F2P is a bit.... wrong and unfair?

theckhd wrote:Fuck no, we've seen what you do to guilds. Just imagine what you could do to an entire country. Just visiting the US might be enough to make the southern states try to secede again.

halabar wrote:Noo.. you don't realize the problem. Worldie was to negative guild breaking energy like Bolvar is to the Scourge. If Worldie is removed, than someone must pick up that mantle, otherwise that negative guild breaking energy will run rampant, destroying all the servers.

Big patch today. Lots of balance changes, some of which make me question if Blizzard even plays or watches their own game. *laugh*

They completely re-did Raynor (and it looks like a pretty substantial nerf to me) - weird because most people thought he was fine before, and he certainly wasn't OP.

Worldie wrote:Am I the only one who thinks that selling Beta invites for money on a game that's supposed to be F2P is a bit.... wrong and unfair?

No.

... the fact that more potential voters are swayed by a few trivial comments 10 years ago than a candidate literally collapsing is not a good sign and tends to indicate that even if Trump wins, it won't matter.

No electorate that stupid is going to survive long, one way or another.

The raynor changes actually resulting in a buff to my eyes: much less burst (the former Searing Arrows + Berserk was insane) but the sustained dps gone up quite a bit.

Also I can't stop laughing at the vikings voice acting.

theckhd wrote:Fuck no, we've seen what you do to guilds. Just imagine what you could do to an entire country. Just visiting the US might be enough to make the southern states try to secede again.

halabar wrote:Noo.. you don't realize the problem. Worldie was to negative guild breaking energy like Bolvar is to the Scourge. If Worldie is removed, than someone must pick up that mantle, otherwise that negative guild breaking energy will run rampant, destroying all the servers.

Finally have access and have to say I'm loving it. ETC is currently my favorite champ, followed probably Illidan. I like being able to solo kill/chase the enemy champs when needed and then teleporting to another part of the map to help my team.

You will find out later when you start matching with people who can actually play it, that solo-play is near unexistant in Hots and you always go in groups. The maps are MUCH smaller than LoL/DotA, making splitpushing near impossible sadly.

theckhd wrote:Fuck no, we've seen what you do to guilds. Just imagine what you could do to an entire country. Just visiting the US might be enough to make the southern states try to secede again.

halabar wrote:Noo.. you don't realize the problem. Worldie was to negative guild breaking energy like Bolvar is to the Scourge. If Worldie is removed, than someone must pick up that mantle, otherwise that negative guild breaking energy will run rampant, destroying all the servers.

Worldie wrote:You will find out later when you start matching with people who can actually play it, that solo-play is near unexistant in Hots and you always go in groups. The maps are MUCH smaller than LoL/DotA, making splitpushing near impossible sadly.

I honestly don't know that I'll ever do PvP... most MOBA communities are way too toxic for that.